Sally turned her head and met the gaze of the man in question. She’d noticed him before and rejected him as being way out of her league. Hot didn’t even begin to describe him. He wore confidence as easily as he wore his dark suit and crisp, pale business shirt, top button undone. Sally felt every cell in her body jump to visceral attention as his eyes met hers. He nodded toward her, raised his glass in a silent toast, then smiled. The kind of smile that sizzled to the ends of her toes.
Be bold, a little voice whispered in the back of her mind. She turned her attention to the waitress and gave the girl a smile.
“Ma’am?”
“Leave it. Thank you. And please pass on my thanks.”
“Oh, you can do that yourself. He’s coming over.”
Coming over? Sally’s fight-or-flight reflexes asserted themselves in full screaming glory, shrieking, take flight! like a Klaxon blaring in the background.
“May I join you?” the man said smoothly, his hand hovering over the back of the chair Gilda had recently vacated.
“Certainly.” Her pulse fluttered at her throat, but she managed to sound reasonably calm. She lifted her glass and tipped it toward him in a brief toast. “Thank you for the drink.”
“You’re welcome. You don’t see many people drinking a Gibson these days. An old-fashioned drink for an old-fashioned girl?”
His voice was rich and deep and stroked her nerves like plush velvet on bare skin. And he certainly wasn’t hard on the eyes, either. He filled his suit with broad shoulders, and the fine cotton of his shirt stretched across a chest that looked as though it had the kinds of peaks and valleys of toned muscle that a woman like her appreciated but oh so rarely got to indulge in. His face was slightly angular, his nose a straight blade, and his eyes—whatever color they were, something light, but it was hard to tell in here—looked directly at her. No shrinking violet, then. Not like her. His lips were gently curved. He didn’t have the look of a man who smiled easily, and yet his smile didn’t look fake. In fact, he actually looked genuinely amused but not in a superior way.
Not quite sure how to react, she looked down at her drink and forced a smile. “Something like that.”
Sally looked up again in time to see him grin outright in response. Seeing his smile was like receiving an electric shock straight to her girlie parts. Wow. Shouldn’t a man need a license to wield that much sex appeal?
“I’m Kirk, and you are?” He offered her his hand and quirked an eyebrow at her.
Sally’s insides turned to molten liquid. Normally, she wouldn’t give in to a drink and a slick delivery like the one he’d just pitched, but what the hell. She was fed up with being the good girl. The one who always did what was expected. The one who always deferred to others and never put herself forward or chased after what she wanted. If she wanted to make a stand in anything in her life, she was going to have to do things head-on rather than work quietly and happily in the background. Hadn’t she just decided tonight to take charge of her life and her decisions? For once, she was going to do exactly what she wanted and damn the consequences.
She put out her hand to accept his. “I’m Sally. Next round is on me.”
“Good to meet you, although I have to warn you, I don’t usually let women buy me drinks.”
Sally felt that old familiar clench in her gut when faced with conflict. The kind of thing that made her clam up, afraid to speak up for herself. It was one of her major failings—another thing she hid behind. But she’d told herself she wouldn’t hide tonight. She pasted a stiff smile on her lips. Pushed herself to respond.
“Oh, really? Why is that?”
“I’m kind of old-fashioned, too.”
She couldn’t stifle the groan that escaped her. Despite being head of a leading IT corporation, her dad was also the epitome of old-fashioned. The very last thing Sally needed in her life was another man like that.
“But,” he continued, still smiling, “in your case I might be prepared to make an exception.”
Taken aback, she blurted, “In my case? Why?”
“Because I don’t think you’re just buying me a drink just so you can take advantage of my body.”
She couldn’t help it. She laughed out loud. Not a pretty, dainty little titter—a full-blown belly laugh.
“Does that happen often?” she asked.
“Now and again,” he admitted.
“Trust me, you’re quite safe with me,” she reassured him.
“Really?”
Was it her imagination, or did he sound a little disappointed?
“Well, perhaps we should wait and see,” she answered with a smile of her own and reached for her martini.
Two
How had it gone from a few drinks and dancing to this? Sally asked herself as they entered his apartment. Kirk threw his jacket over the back of a bland beige sofa. She got only the vaguest impression of his place—a generic replica of so many serviced apartments used by traveling business people with stock-standard wall decorations and furnishings. The only visible sign of human occupation was the dining table piled high with archive boxes and files.
That was all she noticed before his hands were lifting her hair from her nape and his lips pressed just there. She shivered at the contact. Kirk let her hair drop again and took her hand to lead her through to his bedroom. He turned to face her, and she trembled at the naked hunger reflected in his eyes.
Be bold, Sally reminded herself. You wanted this. Take charge. Take what you want.
She reached for his tie, pulling it loose, sliding it out from under his collar and letting it drop to the floor. Then she attacked his buttons, amazed that her fingers still had any dexterity at all given how her body all but vibrated with the fierceness of her longing for this man. A piece of her urged her to slow down, to take care, to reconsider, but she relegated that unwelcome advice to the very back of her mind. This was what she wanted, and she would darn well take it, and him, and revel in the process.
Kirk didn’t remain passive. His large, warm hands stroked her through the fabric of her tunic, which, beneath his touch, felt like the sexiest thing she’d ever worn. She sighed out loud when she pushed his shirt free of his body and skimmed her hands over the breadth of his muscled shoulders, following the contours of his chest. While they’d danced, she’d been able to tell he was in shape, but, wow, this guy was really in shape. For a second she felt uncomfortable, ashamed of her own inadequacies—her small breasts, her wide hips, her heavy bottom. But then Kirk bent his head and nuzzled at the curve of her neck, and the sensation of his hot breath and his lips against her skin consigned all rational thought to obscurity.
For now everything was about his touch. She was vaguely aware of Kirk reaching for the zipper at the back of her tunic and sliding it down, then deftly removing her trousers, and felt again that prickle of insecurity as he eased the garment off her body, exposing her pretty lace bra and her all too practical full briefs.
She stifled a giggle. “Sorry, I wasn’t quite expecting this outcome when I dressed for today.”
“Never apologize,” he ordered. His voice was deep and held a tiny tremor, which gave her an immense boost of confidence. “You’re beautiful. Perfect, in fact. And, for the record, I happen to find white cotton incredibly sexy.”
She looked at his face—studying it to see if he was serious or if he was simply saying what he thought she needed to hear—but there was an honesty there in his features that sent a new thrill through her. She bracketed his cheeks with her hands and pulled his face down to hers, kissing him with all that she had in her. With just a few well-chosen words, he’d made her feel valued, whether he knew it or not.
She couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment he unhooked her bra, but she would remember forever the first time his hands cupped her breasts. His touch was reverent but firm. His fi
ngers, when they caressed her nipples, teasing but gentle. Unable to help herself, Sally arched her back, pressing herself against his palms, eager to feel more. She was no shrinking virgin, but she’d never experienced this kind of responsiveness before in her life. Right now she was lost in sensation and anticipation of his next move.
When he lowered his mouth to capture one taut nipple, she keened softly in response. Her legs felt like jelly, as if they could barely support her, and at her core her body had developed a deep, drawing ache of need.
“Perfect,” he whispered against her wet and sensitive bud, sending another shiver through her body that had nothing to do with cold and everything to do with an inferno of heat and desire.
Kirk’s hands were at her hips a moment later, easing her panties down over her thighs. She stepped out of them, for the first time in her adult life unembarrassed by her nakedness.
“It seems you have me at a slight disadvantage here,” she said with a teasing smile.
“I’m all for equal opportunity.” He smiled in return and spread his hands wide so she could reach for his belt buckle.
She wasn’t sure how he did it, but he managed to make shedding his shoes, socks, trousers and boxer briefs incredibly sexy. Or maybe it was just that she was so looking forward to seeing him naked, to having the opportunity to investigate every curve of muscle and every shadow beneath it, that every new inch of bared skin aroused her even more.
His skin peppered with goose bumps as she trailed her hand from his chest to his lower abdomen. His erection was full and heavy, jutting proudly from his body without apology or shame.
“You do that to me,” he said as she eyed him.
Again he made her feel as though she was the strong, desirable one here. The one with all the authority and control. Without a second thought, she wrapped her fingers around his length, stroking him and marveling at the contradiction in impressions—of the heated satin softness of his skin and the steel-like hardness beneath it.
Somehow they maneuvered onto the bed. Again an exercise in elegance rather than the convoluted tangle of limbs she’d always experienced in the past. Sally had never known such synchronicity before. Exploring his body, listening to and watching his reactions as she did so, became the most natural thing in the world. Despite the sense of urgency that had gripped her at the bar, right now she wanted to take all the time in the world. Kirk, too, seemed content to go along for the ride, to allow her the time to find out exactly what wrung the greatest reactions from him, how to take him to the edge of madness and how to bring him slowly down again.
And then it was his turn. His hands were firm and sure as they stroked her, his fingers nimble and sweet as they tweaked and tugged and probed until she was shaking from head to foot. Wanting to demand he give her the release her body trembled for, yet wanting him to prolong this torturous pleasure at the same time. And all the while he murmured how beautiful she was. How perfect. It was the most empowering experience of her life.
When he finally sheathed himself and entered her body, it was sheer perfection. Her hips rose to greet him, and as he filled her she knew she’d never known anything quite this exquisite and might never know anything to match it again. Tonight was a gift. Something to be cherished. All of it—especially the way he made her feel so incredibly wanted when he groaned and gripped her hips as he sank fully within her.
“Don’t. Move,” he implored her as she tightened her inner muscles around him.
“What? Like this?” She tightened again and tilted her hips so he nestled just that little bit deeper.
“Exactly not like that.”
She did it again, savoring the power his words had given her. Savoring, too, each and every sensation that rippled through her body at how deliciously he filled her. He growled, a deep, guttural resignation to her demands and began to withdraw. Then he surged against her. This time it was Sally who groaned in surrender. Her hands tightened on his shoulders, her short, practical nails embedded in his skin. She met him thrust for thrust, her tension coiling tighter and tighter, until she lost all sense of what was happening and felt her entire being let go in a maelstrom of pleasure so mind-blowing, so breathtaking she knew nothing in her life would ever be the same again.
As she lay there, heart still hammering a frantic beat, her nerve endings still tingling with the climax that had wrung her body out, she thought it such a shame that this was to be only a one-night stand. A woman could get used to this kind of lovemaking. But not a woman like her, she reminded herself sternly. She had a career path to follow. A life to build and a point to prove, to herself if to no one else. Throwing herself into another doomed attempt at building a satisfying relationship would only distract her from her goals. She had to take this rendezvous for what it was—a beautiful anomaly—and then thank the nice man for the lovely ending to the night before getting dressed and going home.
She couldn’t quite bring herself to do it. To pull away and leave the welcoming warmth of his embrace, to end the age-old connection of their bodies. Kirk murmured something in her ear and rolled to one side, bringing her with him until she was half sprawled over his body. Oh, but he was magnificent, she though as she studied his upper torso. How lucky was she to have met him tonight? She lowered her head on his chest and listened to his heart rate as it changed from racing fast to a slower, more even beat. His breathing, too, changed, and his fingers stopped playing with her hair.
He was asleep. Five more minutes and it was time to go. Gently she extracted herself from his arms and tiptoed around the bedroom gathering up her things. A quick trip to the bathroom to tidy up and get dressed and she was out of here. No sticking around for embarrassment in the cold light of morning. No recriminations or awkwardness over breakfast.
She let herself out of the apartment and slipped her phone from her bag. She’d just opened an app to order a cab when her phone—put on silent when she’d gone out to meet her friends—lit up with an incoming call. She recognized the name on the screen immediately. Marilyn had been her father’s PA since before she was born and had become a mother figure to Sally after her own mother’s death. But it was late, after midnight. What on earth was Marilyn doing calling her now?
“Hello?” Sally answered as the elevator doors opened onto the lobby.
“Where are you?” Marilyn asked sharply. “I’ve been trying to call you for the past two hours.”
There was a note to the older woman’s voice that Sally had never heard her use before. She identified it immediately as fear and felt her stomach drop.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, getting straight to the point.
“It’s your father. He came back into his office tonight, and security found him while they were on their rounds. He’s had a heart attack and he’s at the hospital now. It’s bad, Sally, really bad.”
A whimper escaped her as she took a mental note of the details of which hospital he was at.
“Where are you?” Marilyn asked. “I’ll send Benton with the car.”
“No, it’s okay. I’m not far from the hospital. I’ve got a cab coming already. Are you there now?”
“Of course,” the PA answered. A note of vulnerability crept into her voice. “But they won’t tell me anything because I’m not next of kin.”
“I’ll be there as soon as I can. I promise.”
Waiting for the cab was the longest five minutes of her life, and as it pulled away from the curb, Sally wondered how life could turn on the dime like that. How, in one moment, everything could be perfect and exciting and new, and in the next all could be torn away.
She should never have left her father after dinner tonight, especially on the eve of something as big as tomorrow’s merger announcement. But how was she to know he’d go back into the office and, of all things, have a heart attack? And why had the security guards called Marilyn instead of her? Surely
she, as his daughter, should have been listed on the company register as his immediate next of kin? But then, he’d always sheltered and protected her, hadn’t he?
She remembered how drawn he’d looked tonight. How she’d dismissed it so easily as nothing out of the ordinary. She hadn’t even asked if he was feeling ill. Guilt assailed her. He hadn’t wanted to worry her about the merger, so why would he worry her about not feeling well? Suddenly her decision to be bold and chase after her own pleasure without thinking of the consequences tonight seemed horribly pathetic and selfish. If she’d simply gone home after her friends had left the bar, she’d have gotten the call and been at the hospital hours ago. What if she arrived too late? She didn’t know what she’d do if she lost her dad. He was her rock, her mainstay, her shelter.
“Hold on, Daddy,” she whispered. “Please, hold on.”
* * *
Always an early riser, Kirk woke as sunlight began to filter through the blinds, his body satiated like it had never been before. He took a moment to appreciate the feeling and decided he could definitely go for another round of that. He reached across his sheets for Sally’s warm, recumbent form beside him and came up with empty space. When had she pulled away from him? It wasn’t like him to sleep so deeply that he couldn’t remember his bed partner leaving, but then again he’d all but lost consciousness after the force of passion they’d shared.
Maybe she was in the bathroom. He looked across the bed to where light should have gleamed around the bathroom door frame, but there was only darkness. He sat up and cast his gaze around the room looking for her clothes. They were gone, as was she.
It shouldn’t have mattered—after all, he knew he’d see her again at the office, even if she wasn’t aware of that little detail just yet. But there was something almost shameful in the way she’d slipped out of his room without saying goodbye. As if she was embarrassed by what they’d done or wanted to pretend it hadn’t happened.
Little Secrets--The Baby Merger Page 2
